Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claim Tuesday that the Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of some 8,000 Muslim men and women in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

"He (Erdogan) continues to escalate the situation," Rutte said in an interview quoted by Dutch news agency ANP, adding "it's a repugnant historical falsehood", as a diplomatic row between The Hague and Ankara reached a new low point.